LUCIANRIDERS

Well today is a sad day for me as Jon Watson’s Subaru WRX STI 555 project has come to an end as the car has been sent to the shippers and will be leaving the island tomorrow for good! To get an idea as to the scope of this project, check out the following forum link where the car has been featured: The story of the 555

Jon has decided that the car would be better off in the US where it can be properly tuned on a four wheel dyno and race on tracks suited to the performance that this car has always promised. It will also be able to compete against cars of similar performance, particularly against other WRX cars which is what is most relevant about a project like this.

As John F Kennedy stated about going to the Moon, “We do this not because it is easy, but because it is hard!” This has been the maxim behind building the 555 to the present state of tune. There are much easier cars to get a similar type of performance out of and that is what most people attempt to do. Jon on the other hand wanted to build something out of the ordinary, a car so incredible that people not only here in St. Lucia but also around the world would follow, hanging onto every post that I or Jon have made both here and on many other forums.

In this Jon has succeeded beyond what we had ever thought possible. Building this car even in the US or England would have been both extremely difficult and expensive but doing it here in St. Lucia was beyond difficult! And as for the price, well I believe Jon must have nightmares about the money that has been spent! As anyone that has seen this car up close and hopefully can see from the pictures that I have posted, this car is a work of art! There is virtually nothing that has been left untouched and Jon has not only crafted a working and moving piece of art, but a car that is now so singular of purpose that to think of it anywhere but on a drag strip is almost blasphemous.

Unfortunately St. Lucia will almost certainly not see the likes of a car like this again, as it is hard to believe that there is anyone here that is as this committed to spending as much personal time, money and effort as Jon has to build his car. One also has to remember that Jon lives in Soufriere and the car has been at my home at Cap Estate for at least 90% of the three years that the car has been building. Just having the energy to drive up just about every weekend to work on the car must have required a herculean effort.

The car is now safely ensconced within a shipping container and will be put aboard a Tropical Ship to be offloaded in Miami. The car will then be trucked to P&L where they will put the car on their Dyno for final tuning. There is nothing else that is left to be done, the car is complete! The car was driven out of my driveway and up and onto Connies trailer. I have video and I will post it as soon as I have done the editing.

I had really hoped that the car would have made some last passes at the base just to prove what this car is really capable of, but without final tuning; this would have been either fool hardy or a very limited display of what would have been expected. But the cost of having to bring the tuners back just to basically scratch an itch was financially not feasible. The plan for a while was to compete with the car in the US so the risk of breaking it just to prove a point here in St. Lucia was not worth it. I whole heartedly stand by Jon’s decision on this, too much has been invested to date!

Here are but a few pictures to remind us of what a great car the 555 is.

Still wet from the shower and ready for the trip!

There is no bad angle to this car!

Now that is a beautiful engine bay!

Petr Kraus will be in St. Lucia on June 12th

The world Champion BMX Biker will be in St. Lucia on June 13th, 2009 as a spokesman for Red Bull. The sponsored rider will be starting an island wide tour that starts in Vieux Fort and then travels up the West coast, stopping off at most of the major villages along the way to put on a thrilling show for St. Lucian’s of all ages.

He will be terminating his tour at Pigeon Island and is expected to be there by 3 pm. Petr has been traveling the Caribbean and is being hosted by the local Red Bull dealer which is St. Lucia Distillers Ltd.

Here is Petr in action:

Thinking that it is about time, you can now list your vehicle on-line or browse listed vehicles on a site dedicated to motoring enthusiasts here in St. Lucia.  And the best thing about it, it’s FREE!

To list a vehicle you will have to sign up at Lucianriders classifieds you will need a valid e-mail address and to complete the registration process a confirmation e-mail will be sent back to you. I will need to approve your becoming a seller and I will be notified of any new users.

You can list as many vehicles as you like and direct interested persons to your actual listings by copying the web address or by directly e-mailing them with the information. You will be able to upload pictures and list the features of your vehicle. Here is what a sample listing looks like:

So spread the word, as more sellers and buyers that use the site; the better it will be for selling vehicles.

Written By: David pascal on Jun 8th, 2009

Kelvin Kanhai (14) followed closely by Dexter Felix (451) following the start of a race in the ‘B’ Class.

Cul de Sac was once again buzzing with excitement over the weekend as the St Lucia Moto X Club staged their third points race of the year.
Competing were several local riders and competitors from Club Moon Martinique who provided stiff competition and added thrills on a course which was redesigned. The new layout which consisted of more jumps proved challenging.

Two riders were thrown off their bikes but were not seriously hurt. They were attended to on the track by volunteer nurse Bonnette and the club’s First Responder Instructor, Terroll Compton, also President of the St Lucia Moto X Club.
The course was particularly tough on young Carlan Mitchell on bike 801(sponsored by SALCO & CJ Touring). He had a rough time manoeuvring his way through traffic and had a few spills. Nevertheless, Mitchell ended up third on the ‘B’ Class Suzuki Score Board. It was a learning experience for Mitchell who will only get better as time goes on.
Olson Francois on bike number 10, placed first in the ‘B’ Class with 24.33 points. He will undoubtedly move up the ladder in the overall points standings for the 2009 season. Second place went to Kelvin Kanhai (22.33). Mitchell finished third (21.67) followed by Dexter Felix (19.67) and Keran Rosemond (18).

Finishing in first place on the Class ‘A’ Suzuki Scoreboard was Daran Rosemond with 25 points. Second place went to Randy Grocravia with 23 points followed by Linlin Grocravla with 20.33 points, Bryan Leonce (19.67) and Rio O’Brian (12).

The next Moto X race is set for June 14 at the track at Cul de Sac and will again feature riders from St Lucia and Martinique.

Officials with the St Lucia Moto X Club thanked sponsors and spectators who were present Sunday to view what the president calls “St Lucia’s only true racing sport.

You can come up with all kinds of reasons why one brand of car is better than another, but here is video proof why the Subaru WRX STI is better than the Mitusbishi EVO.

Because Ken Block drives an STI, simple! The man is a god and what ever he drives is better than anything else. So put that in your pipe and smoke it!